Expected Family Contribution and financial aid

NCSU is not cheaper than Rutgers at $46k plus engineering fees. Excellent school though. Like Rutgers they give very little in scholarships to a few. Don’t expect any.

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No idea on EE but it’s a very good engineering program. They have a huge new buildings. It’s not an easy admit. Two years ago my son applied to 15 schools. In 13. 11 gave $$. NCSU was one of two who didn’t. My son had a 34, 4.6 so pretty strong

I still say if money matters look at AZ …u can apply to May 3rd. If u have a 3.9 UW it’s $7k. A 4.0 $2k. It’s auto merit.

Alabama has the nicest facilities you’ll say. Also dirt cheap but you missed auto merit. My son is MECHE but his friend is EE. Had no issue getting an internship this Summer. 60% OOS including lots from NY NJ. I don’t think u can get merit anymore.

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Sorry. Typing on the phone. Apology for the typos

I second the vote for Arizona. They have an online calculator so you can estimate merit money. Same with ASU. Both are still taking applications.

Others have mentioned University of New Mexico as still taking applications and having merit money.

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They are auto scholarship. The only thing you don’t know is your GPA as they don’t count all classes. My daughter had one B in HS. Got the 30k.

All these schools are ABET. That’s what employers want. My son, at Bama had interviews for internships in MN, MS, OR, NC, and NY that I can think of. I think the regionalization is not a huge factor anymore. Most jobs are found online, not through the schools and most have you do a hirevue recorded video first.

Btw my son is at a major automaker this Summer. Three interns. Ga Tech. Bama. U of Houston

I think people solely looking at rankings are doing their kids a disservice.

Schools like Michigan Tech, SD School of Mines…placing kids no problem. You won’t see them on any lists.

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Has he applied to Rowan? The longer he waits, the more likely it is that the answer he gets to the email I wrote above is that they no longer have scholarships. (And it’s important he click from the emails they send him, since this is tracked).
What I worry about for him is that he’d have to take a gap year whereas he has very high stats, simply because he didn’t apply to colleges that would have valued him more. Hopefully the May list of colleges that miscalculated yield will provide him with solutions. Right now, does he have any affordable solution?

NCSU’s deadline for scholarships used to be Oct.15.
You can look into UAlabama Huntsville, Cleveland State, UArizona, UNM, I think they’re still taking applications and still offer scholarships.

I’m so sorry for Northeastern. Your son must feel really dejected, upset, and/or angry - even if he understands you would not have been able to send him even if he’d been admitted. It probably makes no sense to him that, with such a high GPA and high SAT score, he can’t choose where he attends college, even 2 affordable choices among a few that he’d cross out for being unaffordable.

Were you able to check your FAFSA? The fact that with 2 in college doesn’t change anything may indicate there’s a problem somewhere.

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I have family in the tri-state area. Many people live on that and far less.

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Same. There are lots of assumptions in the various examples that make it look impossible which are not most families’ realities, the biggest of which is that that the family owns a home or would not live in certain areas. Privilege.

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debnbill- living alone is a choice. Most folks your son’s age double and triple up. Share the rent, share the utilities. You honestly think there aren’t people living in your son’s neighborhood earning far less?

FAFSA doesn’t “want” your gross income. FAFSA is a form and nobody requires you to contribute ANYTHING. You don’t want to fund your kids education? You have plenty of company, there are kids going it alone. Or heading off to West Point if they can get in…

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What do you mean by tri state, because it’s different than the NYC metropolitan area. Rents in my area start at $1200+ for a one bedroom, tiny 2 bedroom starter homes at $400,000. Towns in the area that have less expensive options are not very safe (although armed security guards at schools and metal detectors might bring comfort to some).

Just a guess, but it looks like Rutger’s College of Engineering’s middle SATs were 1340-1500 and middle class rank percentile was 75-95, so while his score was good and placed him right in the middle range, he probably needed to be well over 1500 or in the top 5-10% of admitted students in order to earn merit this year. Again, just a guess based on what we saw last cycle.

The results of many state school’s merit have changed drastically in the last 2 years; last year we encountered some state schools who raised minimum standards to a 1490 SAT/34ACT/ 3.9 uw/ top 10% to qualify for merit, even at schools who were previously known for generous merit. D20 received $300 from our state engineering flagship (NCSU) because although she had good stats (4.0uw, 35 ACT, 8-9AP/DEs, all 5s, top 2.5%), there were kids above her in our school with higher stats. They took 12-15+ AP/DEs. That’s the one good thing about knowing class rank; she knew her competition. She would’ve had to be in the top 2-5 kids in her large class to “potentially” earn higher merit at NCSU or UNC because she was in one of the higher ranked schools in a high stat county. She tried to stick to schools where her stats put her in the top 10% of admitted students.
As far as NCSU goes; yes, it’s a great engineering school with good co-op opportunities in the RTP area. The engineering campus is separate from main, but it’s a short bus ride. They do have dorms on the engineering campus, but it’s mostly upper classmen. I think D20s favorite thing was the engineering library. Most of her friends are there (for engineering). Great school, just too big for her.
This cycle will be even more difficult to predict; with TO, lower budgets, increased costs, it will be interesting to see where the stat levels land for merit. I hope he finds his perfect match; good luck!

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Has he considered moving back home? My 22 year old has a similar salary, technically works near Princeton. He has an apartment in beautiful Ewing with two others, but they are graduating and are moving out. He came home a bit last summer because some of his HS crew, also new graduates and working remotely, decided to lease local office space. My son will be moving back in June, basically for sleeping purposes, move his giant standing desk, leather chair, and giant monitors into the office space, and save in rent (he works until at least 8 pm). He’s taking advantage of one of the positives of covid.

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I am trying to convince him about Rowan, but there is something about it that he just does not like. Rutgers and NJIT are the most “affordable” options right now. We haven’t received the financial aid offer letter from Steven’s Institute yet, but I can imagine that whatever they give him if anything, it will still be much more than the other two.

Yes, Northeastern was a big upset, but he took it fairly well. He actually applied early decision and they deferred him to regular decision, so he thought he at least had a chance. I’m just wondering how many high schools changed their grading policies after going totally remote–our HS did not. He has a rigorous course schedule this year AP Calculus, AP Physics, Electrical Engineering I and II, Honors English. Also, I forgot to mention he has a learning disability that he is IEP’d for–to me I think his grades and SAT are pretty impressive considering his circumstances (maybe because I witnessed first hand the struggles he had and how he dedicated himself to overcoming his disability and now sits alongside the most brilliant kids in his school). Unfortunately, he is in a competition pool with kids that have no struggles and much of this comes easy to them.

If you need any help navigating the IEP/504 transition to ADA, let me know.

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NCSU engineering students start in a first year engineering program and must apply to competitive admission to their majors. EE seems to be a moderately competitive major, according to https://www.engr.ncsu.edu/academics/undergrad/coda-calculator/ (the GPAs are overall and technical college GPAs earned in first year courses).

I’m glad he got deferred ED - because if he got in - you’d be stuck because money is an issue and you probably would not have been satisfied with what you got.

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Listen, I meant no disrespect to anyone. And I don’t call owning a home a “privilege” it’s more like a sacrifice for most of us–the one thing that eats up nearly every paycheck between mortgage, taxes, utilities and upkeep. Jersey City has three sides–the working, the working poor and the freeloaders. So yes there are probably many people not earning anything in Jersey CIty. Most people my son’s age are married–he will be 32 soon, and many are not doubling or tripling up. He moved to Jersey City due to the commute as he works in the New York. Yes he makes well into 6 figures, but he also pays a lot out to just live so he doesn’t have a 4 hour commute every day.

And it’s really not about not wanting to fund my kids education, it’s about the federal government presupposing I have an extra $40,000 laying around every year to fund it, which I don’t. I was a single mom with my oldest son (the Jersey City kid)–I worked full time and went to college full time just to get ahead. I met my husband when my son was 9, we married and had 2 more kids. Unfortunately, there were no 529 savings plans, etc…my life as a mother didn’t start in a customary manner; there was not time to “plan” like the fed gov expects you to plan. The point I was trying to make is that we all have different circumstances, different backgrounds. This is not a one-size fits all, yet that’s how the government treats it. Basically I was told by HESAA, the agency that administers the FAFSA that I should have been saving $200 per week x 52 weeks per year for the last 17 years to fund each of my boy’s first year of college. But, they are assuming this number on your income today–not the income you earned or did not earn 17 years ago. That is the point I am trying to make.

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Personally I hate to see an education burden a parent. It’s unfortunately a case of the haves and have nots.

Had you gotten into Northeastern ED, you’d have had a stroke!!!

Might he consider - going to a community college and then transferring. I know he wants and you want him to have the collegiate experience. I get it. But he’d save money for the last two years.

In college, I had a friend from Montana - I went to Syracuse. Her parents sold the house and moved into a trailer. And then after sophomore year she still had to leave.

It’s not worth it. You are right - but the feds don’t have to give anything. College, it seems, is a luxury - certainly the top schools.

There are places in the country where $60K = $150K elsewhere…why companies are moving.

That’s more a political/wealth conversation - but you have to deal with the card dealt and that you are dealing yourself - i.e. you are not willing to go South or West.

Good luck…I’m sure your son will be successful at any college…

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speechless

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thank you. He was just re-tested in school (for college) and I am awaiting their report